


Not the Best

by sstwinz



Category: WordGirl
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 02:45:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13848441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sstwinz/pseuds/sstwinz
Summary: Victoria has always been the best. She excels at everything she does, gets top grades, and has an entire trophy shelf at home. But sometimes even being the best isn’t enough to get what you really want.Originally written in 2015!





	Not the Best

The girl tapped her foot anxiously on the floor as she waited outside of the room. It was parent-teacher conference day, and she couldn’t wait for her parents to hear about how ‘The Best’ she was! They’d be so happy that maybe she’d finally be able to have a day off to go to the beach or just relax or something! Maybe she’d even be able to go out for ice cream! This thought actually made her squeal out loud, and she kicked her legs back and forth a little in excitement. So far, all she’d been able to hear were murmurs from inside the room, even though she’d pressed her ear to the crack under the door. All she could do was wait and hope that this conference went better than last year’s. The thought made her expression darken for a moment, but she quickly brightened up again. There was no way that would happen again. This time, she’d done  **everything** perfectly.

The creak of a door interrupted her from her thoughts, and she looked up, leaping off of the chair and bounding over to the center of the hallway, like she’d never been sitting at all. After all, people who were ‘The Best’ didn’t need to sit down to wait. She smoothed down her pink skirt and watched as the door opened fully, a pit in her stomach growing steadily larger. Her parents walked out, followed by her teacher. Her teacher was the only one smiling.

“Remember, Victoria is a wonderful student.” She said to them as they exited. “Everyone makes mistakes sometimes!”

“We’ll try to keep that in mind.” Her mother replied with a formal tone. As the door swung shut, they faced the blond-haired girl, frowning. She shrank back against the wall, feeling the bubble of happiness she had a minute before quickly pop. She ran back through everything she had done so far this year, trying to find what could have been the problem. There was nothing she could think of. She’d gotten A’s in every class, joined every club she could and excelled at them, even did some community service work! What could she have done wrong?

Her father looked down at her. “Victoria. We heard you didn’t get the best grade on one of your assignments.”

“A nineteen out of twenty.” Her mother added, shaking her head.

Victoria’s mouth hung open at the unfairness of it all struck her. “But I did perfect on all my other assignments!” She blurted out before she could stop herself. She corrected the error and looked down at the floor, not wanting to see her parent’s eyes. “I mean, I’m sorry. I made a mistake.”

Father’s voice beat down on her. “If you were truly the best, this never would have happened. The Bests never make mistakes.”

Tears had begun to come to her eyes. She blinked them away, not wanting them to see. “I know.”

“You need to try harder next time. What have we told you?” He prompted.

“Always keep your eyes on the prize.”

She dared a glance up and saw that Mother now had a slight smile on her face. A bit of the knot disappeared. At least she had done something right.

“Good girl. You can start studying right when we get home. Next time, you won’t make that mistake again.”

“Yes, Mother.” All thoughts of the free day were gone. But she’d do better next time, she really would! And maybe then they’d be proud of her, and that disappointed look would go away. She resolved to just try harder.

As the three of them walked to the door, Victoria heard laughing coming from another corridor. She turned her head slightly to see Becky Botsford standing with her family, having finished their conference. They were all grinning, and she’d gotten her hair messed up by her dad. They looked… happy. It wasn’t fair, though! She knew for a fact that Becky had gotten a C in math, yet her parents didn’t even seem to care.

Becky looked up for a moment and caught eyes with the other girl. There wasn’t really any expression in her face. If she had to choose, it was probably closest to pity. Victoria scowled and looked away. Well, she didn’t need anyone’s pity. It was her own fault she did so poorly, after all. And next time, she’d make sure that she was the absolute best, no matter what it took.


End file.
